Postgame quotes: Revs 4, Toronto FC 1

Postgame quotes after the Revolution defeated Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium on April 10, 2010

April 10, 2010

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL

Overall thoughts …
“I think getting the ball wide was always going to be huge for us. The very first attack of the whole game we got it wide and we caused them trouble. Unfortunately, first half, we just lacked that quality in their half of the field in order to get the break through. We were 1-nil down at halftime, which is like a sucker punch – just a ball banged into the box. It was a fantastic header, but you know, you have all the game and come in 1-nil down. So it was just about trying to get better quality in their half of the field, and that’s exactly what we did. The quality was there on the cross. The quality was there on the finishes. Just all around, the quality rose from the first to the second half.”

On Zack Schilawski’s performance tonight …
“The second goal is just a great goal. He’s through on the goalie. He’s cool, he’s calm. He rolls it in the side netting. It’s just a fantastic finish and well-taken - all the good things that he has. He was worried that he was there to score goals and he wasn’t. But the truth is we hadn’t given him any chances. We just said to him, ‘Look, while we’re not making chances for you, you shouldn’t have a problem.’ But we got him chances tonight so he showed what he’s capable of doing. It’s a fantastic start for him. If he continues to play the way he did and finish the way he did, he’ll have a bright future.”

On the team’s newest player, Marko Perovic…
You see the quality he has in his first touch, for example. He likes to go at people as we said. He’s got good vision. Hopefully you’ll see all these things in the coming weeks.

On earning his 100th career victory …
(Chuckling) “We’ve got a game next week, so let’s hope it’s 101. That’s all I’m bothered about.”

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD ZACK SCHILAWSKI

On the service into the box:
“That was the focus at halftime: get balls in the box and get on the end of those. As a striker, you’ve got to take that to heart and the second half, that was what was on my mind. Two great balls as far as weight and placement made it easy for me.”

On scoring his first career MLS goals:
“Confidence is huge for a striker and as a soccer player, confidence is huge. I’ve got a lot of confidence right now – and not only me, but the team to come out here in the home opener and score four goals in one game, and have a little bit more confidence in the attacking half. I think things are looking good.

On what changed during the second half:
“I don’t know, sometimes that’s how it is in soccer. We thought we were all over them in the first half. We thought we were pressing them, creating turnovers, unlucky to give up the goal. So we just came out even harder in the next half and sometimes when you get one, the floodgates just open.”

On the first three games of the season so far …
Obviously it helps to have Shalrie back. He’s a big part of our team both ways. I thought tonight in terms of connecting passes and keeping possession in the second half, it’s the best we’ve done so far. Looking forward, we have a lot of confidence going forward.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER SHALRIE JOSEPH:
“(Joseph) Niouky did a great job of winning balls, especially in the second half. I just wanted to feed off of that and I tried to stay high a little bit more, just to have Dube and Zack up top. I think we all played great as a team tonight.”

"It was one of those games where I wasn't seeing the ball enough and every time I tried to get it, I was getting hit, I was getting tackled - so that was kind of frustrating. I just tried to be patient. Stevie (Nicol) was telling me to just be patient and it's going to come, it's going to come. Zack (Schilawski) created chances and Kheli (Dube) created chances; all of the guys did well tonight."

“Sainey’s (Nyassi) talent is unbelievable. It’s just a matter of when he’s going to start putting that stuff together – him and Kenny (Mansally) – they are going to be unbelievable to watch.”

On the team scoring early in the second half:
"It was huge that we got it so early [in the second half]. They didn't really want to play and we knew that they scored early and if we were also going to give up an early strike, we were going to keep working at it and it shows what this team is capable of. We've got a good, strong will. A couple of new guys with Cory (Gibbs) and Preston (Burpo) in the back and (Joseph) Niouky in the midfield. And with (Kheli) Dube being here for his third year, we expect a lot of great things from him. It's going to be a test for these guys, to take their game to another level. I think there's a lot more great things for this team ahead."

TORONTO FC HEAD COACH PREKI
“Injuries, no injuries. I think we could have been better than what we showed in the second half, especially after we gave up the first goal.”

“It was like a shock after five minutes in the second half - after putting in 45 minutes where we don’t give up too many things - we just came out of the locker room thinking that we already won the game. I tried to warn them in the half time the game was 90 minutes.”

“The thing is New England didn’t have to work really hard for the goals. We handed them goals. It’s okay if you say that you really got dominated in football, it’s okay. They got their goals because we made silly, silly mistakes.”

TORONTO FC FORWARD CHAD BARRETT
“I got real winded making runs back and forth. It seemed like we were trying to attack and we weren’t very patient. We’d get forward real fast and then we’d have to get back and, you know, that’s just the way it is. You chase the game at 3-1, and that’s just the way it goes. We had a good first half, I thought. We scored the goal and defensively we did very well. And then we just came out and this happened and that happened and it was just a terrible game for us.”

TORONTO FC DEFENDER RAIVIS HSCANOVICS
“First half we did well, we scored the goal. Second half, we were like (a) different team, I don’t know what happened. Nothing much to say. Two different teams went out onto the field.”